And +1000 to a cat. The wife freaks out, but I love watching them catch mice. Even cooler than a laser pointer.

I'm envious. I have defective cats. Had mice in the kitchen once -- the cats were quite interested, but always maintained a 2-foot radius between them and the mouse, including backing up when said mouse decided to leave the pantry and hide under the oven instead.

And +1000 to a cat. The wife freaks out, but I love watching them catch mice. Even cooler than a laser pointer.

I'm envious. I have defective cats. Had mice in the kitchen once -- the cats were quite interested, but always maintained a 2-foot radius between them and the mouse, including backing up when said mouse decided to leave the pantry and hide under the oven instead.

It can get rather gory when they are successful. I put out a couple of the little trapdoor "catch & release" style traps once. Little did I know, my cats could easily get their paw in the opening. Looked like it went through the blender by the time I found that mouse. I also discovered that entrails stick rather stubbornly to tile floor. Sometimes having a lousy hunter of a cat as a deterrent is a more palatable option.

Vittles Vaults seem thinner than buckets and they are not going to stop a rodent that will chew plastic. Those crappy Gamma-Seal lids they use also don't seal like people want to think they do. If you do get the tiny seal in the spin-on lid to seal the one between the lid mount and the vessel will usually be leaky. Been there with these, and they are mostly hype. Unless you just have to have a square vessel to fit a certain space, buy buckets with o-ring lids (very common), or metal containers (for rodent issues) and use liners that you can seal. Trash bags work well actually for inside any larger bucket. You can buy a lot of good buckets for the price of a Vittles Vault.

Regular bucket lids with o-rings are much more reliable, cheaper and easier. I gave away two of the overpriced Vittles Vaults as I think they are of limited use, and still own one to remind me not to buy gimmicks again :-)

Vittles Vaults seem thinner than buckets and they are not going to stop a rodent that will chew plastic. Those crappy Gamma-Seal lids they use also don't seal like people want to think they do. If you do get the tiny seal in the spin-on lid to seal the one between the lid mount and the vessel will usually be leaky. Been there with these, and they are mostly hype. Unless you just have to have a square vessel to fit a certain space, buy buckets with o-ring lids (very common), or metal containers (for rodent issues) and use liners that you can seal. Trash bags work well actually for inside any larger bucket. You can buy a lot of good buckets for the price of a Vittles Vault.

Regular bucket lids with o-rings are much more reliable, cheaper and easier. I gave away two of the overpriced Vittles Vaults as I think they are of limited use, and still own one to remind me not to buy gimmicks again :-)

Dean, what happened to make you this passionate against the Vittles Vault? Did grain spoil on you? I've had a good experience with mine thus far.

Dean, what happened to make you this passionate against the Vittles Vault? Did grain spoil on you? I've had a good experience with mine thus far.

Dave

Same here. I have 1 for 2-row and 1 for pilsner. I will probably pick up another for Maris Otter in the future. Mine seal up perfectly and nothing has eaten through them yet ( although they did eat through a bag of yeast nutrient ). I also like that I can store a sack in 1 container rather than 5 or 6 buckets. You can usually find them cheap when there are deals at the pet stores.

Dean, what happened to make you this passionate against the Vittles Vault? Did grain spoil on you? I've had a good experience with mine thus far.

Dave

Well, to make a long story shorter (I hope) Keep in mind the ones I bought were probably 8 years ago so they might have fixed the plastic mold quality and seals but I doubt it.

I bought the first one (about 14 gallon size) and made a fermenter out of it, then bought two more for grain storage. I found that all of these had such inconsistent molding of the main vessel that I had to hand file it to make the gasket surfaces seal on the lid mount ring. After that I found that for the o-ring in the spin-on lid to seal it had to be screwed on so tight that it took a mallet to loosen it. Kind of impractical for something advertised as being better than regular bucket lids and costing $45+ each. I really didn't care that the airlock didn't bubble as I knew the nasties would not be able to just float in due to the poor seal, but with our high humidity here in Florida I wasn't willing to leave my bulk grain possibly exposed to moisture and possibly insects (no rodents :-) I just want to make sure people don't think they are getting something better than buckets, and spending money for no reason. They should call them the "gimmick-Seal lids" not Gamma Seal. Just my experience, opinion, and a bit of humor.

Not to mention that if you need to really clean them you need to remove the lid mount and that is difficult and can break that part. If used for fermenters this is where the nasties hide. My solution and modification suggestions for this are at the bottom of the main page of my website. Pics of the vessels as fermenters is also on the site.

I've been dealing with mice in my garage. I'm guessing grain remnants in the driveway and garage lure them in. I'm the middle unit of 5 town homes so I was surprised to see them. I've just been using the old fashioned traps. I get about 3-4 when the seasons change. My grain is a room away in the basement (carriage type house) and stored in the pet containers from Target. They have not breached the house yet. I hate mice.

Dean, what happened to make you this passionate against the Vittles Vault? Did grain spoil on you? I've had a good experience with mine thus far.

Dave

Well, to make a long story shorter (I hope) Keep in mind the ones I bought were probably 8 years ago so they might have fixed the plastic mold quality and seals but I doubt it.

I bought the first one (about 14 gallon size) and made a fermenter out of it, then bought two more for grain storage. I found that all of these had such inconsistent molding of the main vessel that I had to hand file it to make the gasket surfaces seal on the lid mount ring. After that I found that for the o-ring in the spin-on lid to seal it had to be screwed on so tight that it took a mallet to loosen it. Kind of impractical for something advertised as being better than regular bucket lids and costing $45+ each. I really didn't care that the airlock didn't bubble as I knew the nasties would not be able to just float in due to the poor seal, but with our high humidity here in Florida I wasn't willing to leave my bulk grain possibly exposed to moisture and possibly insects (no rodents :-) I just want to make sure people don't think they are getting something better than buckets, and spending money for no reason. They should call them the "gimmick-Seal lids" not Gamma Seal. Just my experience, opinion, and a bit of humor.

Not to mention that if you need to really clean them you need to remove the lid mount and that is difficult and can break that part. If used for fermenters this is where the nasties hide. My solution and modification suggestions for this are at the bottom of the main page of my website. Pics of the vessels as fermenters is also on the site.

OK, I just use mine to store bulk grain, not as a fermentor. I can see how that could cause problems.

Get the green rodent blocks and bye bye mice problems. Keep pets away from them, though! I never have any trouble with Vittles Vaults, but could see right away that fermenting and cleaning would be an issue. So no fermenting. I have four - pilsner, 2 Row, MO, and bags of specialty grains. I love them.

I have never used sterlite brand but have used Rubbermaid totes with lidssuccessfully for many years. I live rural and def have mice in the ballpark.I store wild birdseed, brewry grains and other misc grain with no fail as of yet.I put out bait and try to be diligent on the checking of the contents. I personallydo no give a rats a$$ if the little dawgs hemorrage to death from eating warfarin!Play on words intendedHave had them chew thru the boot of the shifter in my pickup and infest the caball over a bag of sunflower seeds...looked like a war zone...seeds and shiza everywhere.I suppose they could chew thru the plastic rubbermaids if they were real desperate...just has never happened yet....

You can trap them out, might take a while. I use peanut butter on the new type of traps that have a small (about 1 1/2) plastic piece that holds the trigger, they work like a charm, better than the old style. I keep a couple baited all the time just to catch any that might get in my shop where my brewing setup is.